1) I think that combining "art" with moralizing can be a good thing or a bad thing. If there is more to the book/ movie than just the moral then it can be a good thing. When reading or watching a movie, people want to be able to think for themselves, they could see the story one way while someone else sees it a different way. If we are told the moral and that's it, there is no entertainment in that for us. We are told what happened and how we should see it. If the reader/ watcher has to think for themselves and come up with the moral, I think they would respect and understand it more even if it's different from what someone else got.
6) I really enjoyed Oates's version of the story. In Chekhov's version you got to see everything from the man's point of view. You knew that he had affairs often. In Oates's version you see it from the woman's point of view, you don't know that he has affairs often so you see him as this nice guy who talked to her. During the whole story, Anna is conflicting with herself. She isn't truly happy with her life and husband so she has an affair. She knows it's wrong and knows that she should stop but she doesn't really want to. In the end, she realizes that she is not being unfaithful because in her heart she is married to her lover.
Yea I thought the same as you in question 1 that it's more enjoyable when you are able to come up with your own understanding of the story rather than have someone telling you what it is.
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